POLICY: Undergraduate Course and Unit Viability

Transcription

1 POLICY: Undergraduate Course and Unit Viability Policy Group(s): Related Policy: Group C: Administration 1: Academic (Ref: C1/ ) Risk Management Teaching Continuity Policy Grievance Policy and Procedures for Domestic Students Non- Academic Grievances Grievance Policy and Procedures for Overseas Students Non- Academic Grievances Commencement Date: February 2009 Review Date: October 2016 POLICY STATEMENT Intent: The undergraduate courses offered by Christian Heritage College (CHC) are designed to provide students with experiences which are rich and varied in their scope and nature. A factor which contributes to these experiences is the interaction which occurs during class contact time in units offered in the Internal or Intensive mode within undergraduate courses, such as presentations, seminar discussions and group interaction and debate, and that which occurs via electronic means in units offered in the External mode, such as , teleconferences and web-based interactive activities. However, the nature of such experiences can be affected when enrolments in undergraduate units are low. This policy is intended to provide guidelines regarding the actions to be taken in response to undergraduate courses and units which have low enrolments, and the parameters at which these actions are to apply. Scope: All undergraduate courses and units offered by CHC. Restrictions: Exclusions: Objectives: 1. To provide guidelines for the actions to be taken in response to undergraduate courses and units which have low enrolments. 2. To provide guidelines regarding the parameters that will trigger such actions. 3. To assist CHC in its forward planning and marketing. Policy Provisions: Policy: Undergraduate Couse and Unit Viability Page 1 of 3 Author: CHC

2 1. General 1.1 CHC academic staff are committed to student-centred learning which is focussed on what the student needs to do in order to learn, rather than on delivering content per se. 1.2 Many of the undergraduate courses offered by Christian Heritage College exist within nested arrangements for example, a Diploma consists of the first year, and an Associate Degree the first two years, of a three-year Bachelor course or draw upon a common pool of core units apart from the units which may comprise various specialities. Thus, the units that are offered by CHC s Schools Business, Education, Ministries and Social Sciences are shared across a number of courses within those Schools, with very few being undertaken by a single course group. For this reason, the issue of unit viability must also be considered alongside that of course viability. 2. Course Viability 2.1 Schools will consider the issue of the viability of undergraduate courses offered in the School Annual Reports submitted each year to the Academic Board. 2.2 The consideration of the viability of undergraduate courses will be on a longitudinal basis and will be judged over the period of the preceding three years/offerings. 2.3 Initial assessments of the viability of undergraduate courses will be made by the Dean of the School in which the courses are housed and measured against the provisions of the Business Plans for the courses. 2.4 The will report to the CHC Council, which will make all final decisions regarding the viability of undergraduate courses. 2.5 In the event that undergraduate courses are deemed to be not viable, CHC will, depending upon the stage of the accreditation periods applying to such courses: Cancel the courses and enact the provisions of its Course Assurance Arrangements; Apply to the TEQSA for teach out arrangements; or Facilitate the completion of students courses within the accreditation periods. 2.6 In the case of above, the cancellation of undergraduate courses will occur at the end of an academic year only due to constraints such as QTAC course offering imperatives, marketing campaigns and publications. 3. Unit Viability 3.1 Each School is responsible for the planning of the units it offers, and the mode in which they are offered, in its undergraduate courses in each academic semester. 3.2 The consideration of the viability of undergraduate units will be on a longitudinal basis and will be judged over the period of the preceding three years/offerings by the number of students who are enrolled in the unit. 3.3 Viability of units will be considered by individual mode of study (Internal, Intensive and External), as a whole unit and, where applicable, as a cross-school unit according to the number of student enrolments in the unit. 3.4 Decisions regarding the viability of units are to be made within the timeframe required for DEEWR publications; September for Semester 1 and March for Semester 2 and Semester 3 (Summer). Policy: Undergraduate Couse and Unit Viability Page 2 of 3 Author: CHC

3 3.5 In planning the units to be offered in its undergraduate courses, each School is to consider the enrolments in those courses in relation to the breadth and scope of the units to be offered, in order that enrolments in each unit are of a level to render the unit viable A unit is deemed to be economically viable if it has an enrolment of five or more students in either the Internal or Intensive mode; A unit is deemed to be pedagogically viable if it contains an appropriate number of students to provide student-centred learning. This may be as small a number as one student, depending on the type of unit (for example, Internship) and the nature of the unit outcomes. Where fewer than three students enrolled in a unit, the Academic Board may request a Dean to demonstrate that the unit is pedagogically viable. 3.6 If a unit which is offered in the Internal or Intensive mode as part of an undergraduate course has an enrolment of fewer than five, a review will occur to determine if the unit is to be cancelled. The Dean of the relevant School and the Executive will conduct this review. 3.7 Outcomes of this review are reported to Academic Board. 3.8 If a unit which is offered as part of an undergraduate course is not considered to be economically or pedagogically viable, a range of contingency plans may be enacted in order to achieve viability and to ensure that students receive experiences which are appropriate in both nature and scope. This may include offering the unit in the External mode only. Supporting Procedures and Guidelines: 1. Course Viability 1.1 In determining the viability of courses, reference will be made to the number of new enrolments, the number of continuing enrolments and the number of course completions over the preceding three years/offerings measured against the Business Plan for the course. 1.2 The levels at which a course which is offered may be considered to be not viable are as follows, aggregated over three years/offerings: New enrolments: Continuing enrolments: Course completions: In the preparation of the School Annual Report, Deans will make an assessment as to the viability of each course offered by his/her School measured against the provisions of the Business Plan for each course. This data, as well as the outcome of the assessment and any strategies to improve course viability, will be included in the School Annual Report. 1.4 After considering the data and conclusions contained in the School Annual Report, the CHC Executive will make recommendations to the CHC Council who will determine whether to continue or to discontinue the course offering. 1.5 If the CHC Council decides that a course is viable, the Dean of the School will meet with the Marketing Coordinator and the Registrar to discuss further strategies for attracting increased enrolments into the course, and with academic and administration staff involved in the implementation of the course to discuss strategies to increase the rates of course progression and completion. Policy: Undergraduate Couse and Unit Viability Page 3 of 3 Author: CHC

4 1.6 If the CHC Council decides that a course is not viable, the Registrar will inform the Marketing Coordinator and the Student Administration Office that no new enrolments are to be accepted into the course as from the beginning of the next academic year. 2. Course Non-Viability 2.1 In the event that a course is cancelled, the Course Assurance Agreement will be enacted. The Registrar will contact the students enrolled in the course with instructions regarding the accessing of the Course Assurance Arrangements. 2.2 In the event that students will not complete their course requirements within the accreditation period of the course, and the determines that the number of students is sufficient to justify the facilitating of students completion of the course, application will be made to TEQSA for the accreditation of the course for teach out purposes only. 2.3 In the event that students will complete their course requirements within the accreditation period of the course, and the determines that the number of students is sufficient to justify the facilitating of students completion of the course, no application will be made to TEQSA upon the expiration of the accreditation of the course. 3. Unit Viability 3.1 As a general guide, unit enrolments of five and above are deemed to render a unit both economically and pedagogically viable. 3.2 At the end of Week 2, Deans will submit to the Executive, the list of units for the subsequent semester(s) and where a unit has enrolments of 5 or less students across the previous three years/offerings, the Dean will either determine to not offer the unit or will provide the Executive with a rationale for its offering. 3.3 If a unit has an enrolment of fewer than five, the Executive will consider the following elements when determining the cancellation of a unit and will report the outcomes, together with contingency plans (see Supporting Procedures and Guidelines 3.3) to the Academic Board: The status of the unit within its course (that is, if the unit is required for students course progression and/or completion or is an Elective unit); The availability of a comparable unit to students, in either level or content, at CHC or another higher education institution via cross-institutional enrolment arrangements; The modes in which the unit is available; Whether the unit remains pedagogically viable (see Supporting Procedures and Guidelines 4). 3.4 If a unit which is offered as part of an undergraduate course is not considered to be economically viable, the following contingency plans may be enacted in order to achieve viability The number of elective unit choices made available to students can be managed in order to achieve viability in a smaller range of units; Units which involve year-level cohorts or students in nested course arrangements can be combined and unit sequences revised where applicable to achieve viability in a smaller Policy: Undergraduate Couse and Unit Viability Page 4 of 3 Author: CHC

5 range of units; For units which are offered in multiple modes, students can be redirected from the mode which is not viable and engage in the experiences offered by another mode of offering; The use of the Moodle software in units offered in the Internal mode will ease the pedagogical challenges of small on-campus classes by providing students with engagement in a variety of interactive learning experiences. 4. Principles of Pedagogical Viability 4.1 The University of New South Wales 1 has identified a number of pedagogically sound activities associated with student centred learning (see table below). Check marks indicate the strategies that may be employed in classes as small as one student. Any combination of strategies could be employed in classes with three or more students. 4.2 There are particular units in which one-on-one mentoring-type pedagogy is appropriate: for example, an Internship, a Practicum unit or a Supervision unit. In such units, students work on a project basis that is supervised by one or more staff plus an external advisor with specific expertise in the student s chosen study. 4.3 In general it is also anticipated that the pedagogical challenges of very small on-campus classes will be eased with the implementation of Moodle as a learning management system. In particular Moodle will allow internal and external students to interact via synchronous or asynchronous discussion groups. Also, the electronic environment will allow development of pedagogically sound interactive learning opportunities (e.g. interactive quizzes often supplied by publishers). Strategy Problem solving let students discover information Provide opportunities for students to debate an issue Use guided brainstorming to introduce or reflect on a topic Use questions to promote discussion and encourage debate Example Give student(s) a problem and ask them to develop an approach to solving a problem Let students gather information in defence of a particular point of view Record students ideas on a topic without discussion or evaluation (can move on to discussion and evaluation later) Questions may come from lecturer or student(s). Discussion/debate between student and lecturer a Could be used in a class of one 1 University of New South Wales, Learning and teaching induction booklet for new academic staff, section 3, pp Policy: Undergraduate Couse and Unit Viability Page 5 of 3 Author: CHC

6 Promote discussion about the subject outside the classroom Use role-play exercises Have students keep a journal for the duration of the unit Provide opportunities for hands-on experience Encourage interaction using strategies such as think, pair, share mentor-type relationship Devise tasks that require engaging with others, e.g. interviewing family members or someone in industry Develop role-play case studies Student(s) can keep a reflective journal Develop relevant activities (such as site visits) or experiences (such as action learning) Give students opportunities to engage with a partner, then other partners to reflect on subject matter. Generally need a minimum of four students for this activity 8.2 POLICY FURTHER INFORMATION Relevant Commonwealth/ State Legislation ACCOUNTABILITIES Implementation: Compliance: Monitoring and Evaluation: Development/Review: Approval Authority: Interpretation and Advice: Registrar WHO SHOULD KNOW THIS POLICY? Deans of Schools Boards of Studies Academic Board Policy: Undergraduate Couse and Unit Viability Page 6 of 3 Author: CHC

7 CHC Council EFFECTIVENESS OF THIS POLICY Performance Indicators: Regular review of courses and units to determine viability Other Definitions and Acronyms: CHC Christian Heritage College APPROVAL section maintained by the Registrar Reference No. Approved Date Committee/Board Resolution No. / Minute Ref. C1/ Yes 19/02/2009 COM 4.1 REVISION HISTORY section maintained by the Registrar Revision Reference No. Approved/Rescinded Date Committee/Board Resolution No. / Minute Ref Approved 16/03/2010 CHC CEO Approved 15/11/2011 CHC CEO 2 Policy: Undergraduate Couse and Unit Viability Page 7 of 3 Author: CHC